Dolores Malaspina, MD, MS, MSPH, a renowned psychiatrist, has been named Director of the new Psychosis Program in the Department of Psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

An expert clinician with extensive scientific work in psychiatry, Dr. Malaspina will oversee clinical care and jump-start Mount Sinai’s research into the field of psychosis.

“Psychosis is a devastating condition which can be permanently disabling,” said Dr. Malaspina. “The goal of this new program is to identify more at-risk patients and better understand the pathways to psychosis to pinpoint better early interventions.”

Dr. Malaspina joins Mount Sinai from NYU Langone Health where she was the Anita Steckler and Joseph Steckler Professor of Psychiatry and Child Psychiatry as well as founder and Director of the Institute of Social and Psychiatric Initiatives (InSPIRES), a multidisciplinary research program in psychiatry. She also previously served as Chair of NYU Department of Psychiatry.

Throughout her 30-year career, Dr. Malaspina has made important scientific contributions, including being the first to propose that paternal aging is a predictor of sporadic schizophrenia risk; to demonstrate increased hippocampal activity at rest in schizophrenia; and to demonstrate that olfaction, or the sense of smell, is related to social function in humans. In addition, she has received nearly continuous NIMH funding, including support for epidemiological research in the Jerusalem Perinatal Cohort, psychophysiology studies including olfaction and social function, and work to define specific clinical characteristics and genetic profiles for subtypes of psychosis.

“Mount Sinai is delighted to have a physician with the expertise of Dr. Malaspina to lead Mount Sinai’s new psychosis program, and expand our clinical services, research, and education,” said Dennis S. Charney, MD, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and President for Academic Affairs, Mount Sinai Health System. “The recruitment of Dr. Malaspina demonstrates that Mount Sinai will continue to play a national leading role in psychiatry.”

“Under the guidance of Dr. Malaspina, Mount Sinai will work to make the Psychosis Program one of the most successful and prominent in the country,” said Rene S. Kahn, Esther and Joseph Klingenstein Professor of Psychiatry, and Chair, Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

A distinguished educator, Dr. Malaspina has lectured widely and published 300 peer-reviewed papers and scientific chapters. She is the editor of the International Journal of Mental Health and sits on the editorial boards of several journals.

Dr. Malaspina earned her MD, and completed an Internal Medicine internship, at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. She completed a residency in Psychiatry and a clinical research fellowship at Columbia University Medical Center. Dr. Malaspina holds an MS in Zoology from Rutgers and an MSPH in Epidemiology from Columbia University.

The Mount Sinai Health System is an integrated health system committed to providing distinguished care, conducting transformative research, and advancing biomedical education. Structured around seven hospital campuses and a single medical school, the Health System has an extensive ambulatory network and a range of inpatient and outpatient services—from community-based facilities to tertiary and quaternary care.

The System includes approximately 7,100 primary and specialty care physicians; 12 joint-venture ambulatory surgery centers; more than 140 ambulatory practices throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida; and 31 affiliated community health centers. Physicians are affiliated with the renowned Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, which is ranked among the highest in the nation in National Institutes of Health funding per investigator. The Mount Sinai Hospital is in the "Honor Roll" of best hospitals in America, ranked No. 15 nationally in the 2016-2017 "Best Hospitals" issue of U.S. News & World Report. The Mount Sinai Hospital is also ranked as one of the nation's top 20 hospitals in Geriatrics, Gastroenterology/GI Surgery, Cardiology/Heart Surgery, Diabetes/Endocrinology, Nephrology, Neurology/Neurosurgery, and Ear, Nose & Throat, and is in the top 50 in four other specialties. New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai is ranked No. 10 nationally for Ophthalmology, while Mount Sinai Beth Israel, Mount Sinai St. Luke's, and Mount Sinai West are ranked regionally. Mount Sinai's Kravis Children's Hospital is ranked in seven out of ten pediatric specialties by U.S. News & World Report in "Best Children's Hospitals."